The Partnership invites ‘expressions of interest’ in response to this project funding call:

• Does your civil society organisation or community group work with marginalised communities or under-represented groups in Scotland? These include, for example, people who have low-incomes, single-parents, unpaid carers, disabled people, or those who from a minoritised ethnic group.
• Could academic research support your efforts to create transformative and lasting change for those you work with?
• Are you interested in working collaboratively with an academic researcher to explore the themes of Climate Justice or Gender Justice?

If so, we invite you to submit an expression of interest to the UWS-Oxfam Partnership, an innovative academic-civil society collaboration between the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) and Oxfam Scotland in pursuit of a more equitable, sustainable, and socially just Scotland.

This call seeks to place the civil society organisations and the groups working with marginalised communities or under-represented people at the heart of a collaborative research project. Through this funding call, the Partnership wants to match the research needs identified by such organisations and groups to the research expertise of academics at UWS.

With this call, the Partnership invites first stage applications for project proposals with a value of up to £8,000.

The collaborative project should be delivered from 14 September 2026 at the earliest and, ideally, be completed within a 6 to 9 month period.

The Partnership invites proposals that address one or both of the following broad themes and objectives which reflect areas of focus for Oxfam’s work globally:

• Climate Justice: Under this theme, we invite proposals that will provide ideas or evidence to help ensure Scotland’s emission reduction targets are achieved in fair and inclusive ways. For example, by ensuring the people and communities most affected by emission reduction measures, such as low-income households, are meaningfully involved in shaping climate action.
• Gender justice: Under this theme, we invite proposals that will provide ideas or evidence to help tackle gender inequalities in Scotland, particularly those that are driven by or result from poverty. For example, by reducing the undervaluation of the care work disproportionately undertaken by women. 

At this stage, the Partnership is only looking for brief ‘expressions of interest‘ by civil society organisations and community groups. The idea is to make this first stage step as simple as possible for these organisations and groups. The Partnership will, in a second stage, seek to match these expressions of interest with academics at UWS, based on their expertise and interest.

If a match is identified, your organisation will be invited to collaborate with the academics to develop a research proposal. The Partnership will then review the proposals and select the strongest application for funding.

Find out more and access all necessary documents: Funding Call Information Sheet – 2026.

• The deadline for initial expressions of interest is 5pm on 19th April 2026.
• Applications should be submitted to scotland@oxfam.org.uk.